Patterico's Pontifications

2/25/2020

Debate Open Thread

Filed under: General — JVW @ 4:57 pm



[guest post by JVW]

At this point is anybody actually watching?

It seems like the object tonight of everyone not named Bernard Sanders is to try to knock Bernard Sanders down a peg or two. And no, I don’t think this entails a wishy-washy “I believe in a lot of what he believes, but I don’t think he’s electable” sort of approach; this entails going after the Vermont Senator as a crypto-Marxist who has consistently had kind words for America’s enemies while continually ascribing the most maleficent motives to our country’s actions. It means an honest appraisal of how much good the Federal Government can truly accomplish if given virtually unlimited tax resources, and whether that sort of activism has the unintended consequence of making citizens into pliable and helpless wards of that state. And finally it is, in that great assessment of Kevin Williamson, to question whether a Sanders Administration could really use Venezuelan methods to produce a Scandinavian outcome.

But I don’t think any of those other clowns have that much sand in them, so Comrade Cranky is probably going to skate right through the evening.

Feel free to add your observations in the comments.

– JVW

145 Responses to “Debate Open Thread”

  1. I’m going to watch the first few minutes while I multitask with other things, but I anticipate that I will turn to another channel in disgust relatively quickly.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  2. Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King moderating. Oy vey.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  3. Crap, it’s only on CBS. CSPAN isn’t airing it.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  4. Fauxcahontas is going to get to talk as much as she wants apparently. These ladies all stick together.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  5. Billionaire Steyer: ‘unchecked capitalism has failed.’

    We should all fail like him.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  6. “Look folks!” says Joe.

    Biden swig. He’ll have viewers drunk in 15 minutes.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  7. Time for Pete to go.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  8. “But folks!” — another Biden swig.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. Sanders makes Trump look like a policy wonk. Maybe he can move beyond his rote platitudes, but I guess he knows that this forum lends itself to his demagoguery.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  10. This is an embarrassment. These hacks are delusional.

    mg (8cbc69)

  11. This one is vitally important for Biden and Bloomberg.

    Paul Montagu (ae8832)

  12. Why all the arm waving and hand gestures?

    mg (8cbc69)

  13. @10. Give him credit for going back to his routine. He knows how to message on television: say it, then say it again… then say it a third time.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  14. Amy is on the snowshoe grog

    mg (8cbc69)

  15. “Investing in minority communities.” Gee, why didn’t we think of that earlier?

    JVW (54fd0b)

  16. Give him credit for going back to his routine. He knows how to message on television: say it, then say it again… then say it a third time.

    Yep. Exactly my point.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  17. Bloomberg look so bored by the peons around him. The picture of a plutocrat.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  18. So it looks like I’m right: they’re all going to kill Bloomberg again and let Sanders just waltz on to the nomination.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  19. Ugh. Bloomberg just invoked the World Trade Center attacks. What a dick.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  20. 9/11????? Ahem. Rudy Giuliani was mayor on 9/11, Shorty. The pile had cooled by the time you were elected mayor.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  21. Ah, Lieawatha back to lying about the circumstances of leaving her teaching job.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  22. @20. He wasn’t even in office. He’s a more devious liar than Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  23. bloomy is weak on his feet

    mg (8cbc69)

  24. So it looks like I’m right: they’re all going to kill Bloomberg again and let Sanders just waltz on to the nomination.

    They have their orders from Comintern Central: Trump must win!

    nk (1d9030)

  25. warren will not win massachusetts

    mg (8cbc69)

  26. Half a billion dollars to get beat up: rich entertainment; poor judgment.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  27. Time for Amy to go.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  28. What a shit-show this debate is becoming. These moderators suck.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  29. Time for Steyer to go.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  30. @29. I miss Walter Cronkite.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  31. Old Man Biden is bitching about everyone not following the rules.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  32. biden is a doddering old fool I hope his will is made out before senility completely sets in

    mg (8cbc69)

  33. “Here’s the deal!” Another Biden swig.

    Fritz Holling???? He’s DEAD, Joe.

    Another ‘Here’s the deal’ — damn– another swig.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  34. I think this group on stage can fairly be described as Amy and the Assholes. And Sen. Klobuchar is no prize herself.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  35. “Maggot and the Dead Meat Lice”.

    nk (1d9030)

  36. Guys, I seriously can’t take any more. I’m switching off and will follow what you said. I think I should be commended for making it through thirty minutes of this dreck.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  37. Im watching so I can understand each and everyone of you that will cast a ballot for these nuts.

    mg (8cbc69)

  38. Half a billion dollars to get beat up on live television.

    Everyone on this blog would do it for him for just $500,000.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  39. It is funny – the facial expressions when they can’t come up with anything on point to say.

    mg (8cbc69)

  40. @37. C’mon, JVW. Think of it as a Star Wars bar scene where everyone is armed w/a light saber. Appendages will fly!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  41. Im watching so I can understand each and everyone of you that will cast a ballot for these nuts.

    Don’t look at me: I’m voting for My Little Aloha Sweetie. She wouldn’t have put up with this garbage tonight; she would have struck her war club on her debate podium and silenced all of the loathsome fools on stage.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  42. @34 You are going to die of alcohol poisoning.

    Nic (896fdf)

  43. It’s kinda creepy– in our local CBS feed, in the commercial break, Bloomberg commercials are running- so it’s like he’s getting more unchallenged stage time. Seems unfair.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  44. I will recommend you for the Order of Kropotkin for service above and beyond the call of duty, Comrade JVW.

    nk (1d9030)

  45. No, sorry DCSCA: I’ve moved on to watching Rick Steves take me through the former Yugoslavia with his nasally narration.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  46. same here on cape cod, DCSCA.

    mg (8cbc69)

  47. it is a shame Tulsi is not part of these debates

    mg (8cbc69)

  48. What about ‘immunity to banks,’ Joe?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  49. im gonna get me a fake beer

    mg (8cbc69)

  50. Tulsi doesn’t look good in a skirt either. It must be part of the Democrat winnowing process — no women with good legs.

    nk (1d9030)

  51. 46. It’s already nearly half over, JVW. It’s fun watching Wooly Joe Mammoth sink into the tarpit.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  52. No, I’m not watching it, either, just kibitzing you guys.

    nk (1d9030)

  53. joe is about to be taken away by men in white suits

    mg (8cbc69)

  54. Rick Steves in a Serbian church: “When I come here as a Western Christian, this really seems like an Eastern church.”
    Serbian Orthodox Priest: “That’s because this is an Eastern church.”

    For a European traveller, Rick Steves isn’t too knowledgable about religion.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  55. alfred e is a pompous azz

    mg (8cbc69)

  56. It’s great TV- with all those hands up, they’re all either hailing cab or asking where the bathroom is.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  57. “I’m proud of my D-minus.”

    No Gentleman’s C– eh, Bernie?! They gotta be loving this in China.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  58. Have they bothered to ask anyone about Coronavirus?

    JVW (54fd0b)

  59. bloomy has a nice suit and tie

    mg (8cbc69)

  60. “I saw a statistic the other day.”– Bloomberg.

    I saw a 1965 Mustang convertible.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  61. Gotta give Bernie credit for always going back to his core messaging in his answers. He knows how to do TeeVee.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  62. the arm waving on stage is bizarre.

    mg (8cbc69)

  63. major league baseball managers should be watching the arm waving for new signal sending technique

    mg (8cbc69)

  64. Bloomberg is not a comedian.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  65. Contestants????

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  66. @64. There must be a helluva long line of cabs.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  67. Bloomberg knows how to keep his cool. The crowd seems to like him.

    JRH (52aed3)

  68. Reparations, Tom?

    Howzabout 40 acres and mule?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  69. Joe and Bernie in a split screen shot look like those old-man muppets going at it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  70. I can’t take it anymore, American Masters for me – Miles Davis

    mg (8cbc69)

  71. “I wrote the bill that set up drug courts!”

    But have you ever picked up a check, Joe?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  72. @71. Yes, but it’s live TeeVee; anything could happen— and paramedics are standing by!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  73. The last debate got higher ratings than the previous ones because it featured a new candidate whom people hadn’t seen in a debate before. (Michael Bloomberg) And also it was on major broadcast network.

    Similarly, Donald Trump raised the ratings of the Republican debates in 2016.

    This one maybe shouldn’t have as much of an audience as the previous one but it should have a lot.

    It’s quite lively. Bloomberg is doing better He also bought a commercial that ran during the second intermission.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  74. 65. Bloomberg tried a joke about having done well in the previous debate – nobody even nnoticed.

    Q. Is Elizabeth Warren saying that the woman who once accused Michael Bloomberg of saying “kill it” when she told her boss (him) she was pregnant is restrained by an NDA or somwthing?

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  75. 66. DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/25/2020 @ 6:01 pm

    Contestants????

    Bloomberg couldn;t find the right word.

    Saturday Night Live a few months ago did a debate parody that had the candidaates move onto the stage after the broadcast stated, somewhat like game show contestants

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  76. 50. JVW (54fd0b) — 2/25/2020 @ 5:52 pm

    Have they bothered to ask anyone about Coronavirus?

    a candidate I thnk Bloomberg brought it up Then a moderator said he’d have aquesion about it.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  77. It will be the first time ever that I will try instant ramen. Sapporo Ichiban, if it matters. Should I have
    __”Original” flavor or
    __Chicken flavor
    Just as it comes or add
    __Soy sauce
    __Egg
    __Vegetables?

    nk (1d9030)

  78. PS
    __Butter?

    nk (1d9030)

  79. I’ve never eaten instant ramen, but hypothetically I would go for Original flavor and add an egg. No butter.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  80. instant ramen… aka the Buttigieg Cocktail.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  81. CNN has kind of a funny post about what each candidate was doing back in 1981.

    Here’s what all the candidates were doing that year:

    Bernie elected mayor, getting a steady paycheck and making 33k a year
    Bloomberg fired from Salomon, given $10 million severance
    Warren gets job as law professor at University of Texas
    Biden was 7 years a senator
    Klobuchar was a senior at Yale
    Steyer left his job as an analyst at Morgan Stanley
    Buttigieg was not yet born

    JVW (54fd0b)

  82. I give CBS News very poor marks on both the format as well as moderator selection and performance.
    Very sloppy job; a K-Mart production from the once proud Tiffany Network.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  83. IRON ORE MINER!!!!

    Bugg (ebf485)

  84. Nothing but the kid binging Clone Wars on the +…and that property has a new CEO (Iger resigned, the new guy is from the infamous NWI “Region”). Sounds like I didnt miss much.

    urbanleftbehind (d431ff)

  85. Sanders’ motto by his own terms was essentially, workers of the world, unite.

    Bugg (ebf485)

  86. I saw Jason Statham microwave a bowl (of ramen) with just a little water in The Transporter and it aroused my curiosity. The innernuts say you can eat them that way since they’re supposed to be pre-cooked but I’ll boil them on the stovetop like the package says, thank you very much.

    nk (1d9030)

  87. If the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had treated its workers one-tenth as well as the Western capitalist democracies of the same time period treated their workers, it would not have collapsed as miserably as it did. But Bernie Bros and Bernadettes can’t even.

    nk (1d9030)

  88. And speaking of Jason Statham, if you’re tempted to watch Wild Card, Burt Reynolds already made it as Heat. Rent that.

    nk (1d9030)

  89. 83. DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/25/2020 @ 6:55 pm

    I give CBS News very poor marks on both the format as well as moderator selection and performance.

    Moderators enforcing rules, maye not. But they got better questions asked and more topics covered.

    There was quite alot about corovirus

    Embassy in Jerusalem – Saners actually said he’d set up a body to consider moving it back. Palestinians are suffering and Netanyahu is a racist. But he lived for several months in Israel.

    Idlib province in Syria: Very good question from the Twitter not so good answers.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  90. A few things not answered: Like why Bloomberg supported Republicans including Lindsay Graham and Elizabeth Warren’s opponent in 2012. Wasn’t that Scott Brown? Bloomberg’s closest answer to that ws how hes supported Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives in 2018.

    Bloomberg at some point mentioned that he’d (founded?) a 6 million member anti-gun group called Moms something. Bernie liked that – he considered that a legitimate credential.

    There were some plays on words that fell flat, like Buttigieg mentioning Denmark, South Carolina.

    Bernie was very proud to be the front runner and beating Donald Trump in polls.

    Not clear whether Bernoe says that Medicare for All will cost billions or save money (as an article said in the Lancet he said) If Bernie now thinks it would why doesn’t he say he was wrong with all those cost estimates? Amy Klobuchar liked mentioning the figure $600 trillion dollars – for everything Bernie proposed she was careful to add each time.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  91. Moms Demand [Hot] Action. It’s a joke in the RKBA community. Gun rights are grassroots and Bloomberg-bought astroturf does not do well. Virginia was a recent case in point.

    nk (1d9030)

  92. Yep, Lizzie is being Bernie’s attack dog on Bloomberg. Her pivot to Bloomberg’s taxes was pretty awkward.
    The producers screwed this up, leaving too little time for the “contestants” to reply and packing in too many topics.
    Steyer disqualified himself on multiple levels, and Warren only increased her unlikability.

    Paul Montagu (ae8832)

  93. I appreciated the part where Biden praised Tom Hanks portraying him in his life story.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  94. Charlie Sykes
    @SykesCharlie
    ·
    Question on soda bans before a single question on coronavirus… Well done CBS. Well done.
    _

    Joe Lockhart
    @joelockhart

    Take a commercial break and get control of this. Otherwise this is a commercial for Donald Trump. Do better CBS
    __ _

    carol johnson
    @1234renodog
    ·
    Democratic debate: CBS, Bloomberg draw jeers for ad buy, ‘stacked’ audience
    __ _

    freyjja5
    @freyjja5
    ·
    The worst part is those were purportedly very expensive seats~$1,000 and up! So how do “cheers,” “boos,” or a lack of response mean anything at all??! How did that audience reflect the “average” citizen, who struggles just to take their family to a movie? It’s B.S. ~ #cbsdebate
    __ _

    ExplosiveGasPump
    @Earthbound564
    ·
    Cbs is a multi billion dollar media company. They could have allowed the average American individual who is making less than 50k a year into the debate for free but instead they pack it with wealthy sacs of feces because they know those people hate Bernie #WineCaveDebate

    __ _

    harkin (b64479)

  95. burnee is in it for the money

    mg (8cbc69)

  96. Buttigieg was about my third or fourth favorite Democrat at the start of the 2020 season but he seems to be getting more adept by the day. If people remember one thing from last night’s debate, I hope it’s this quote from Mayor Pete:

    “….Bernie Sanders with nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s”

    noel (4d3313)

  97. Would Bernie’s honeymoon in Russia and his love of Fidel Castro hand Florida to Trump? My guess is yes.

    noel (4d3313)

  98. Putin couldn’t believe his luck when Donald Trump won. Add in a possible Bernie nomination in 2020 and he has to be thinking that he is king of the world.

    noel (4d3313)

  99. And should Buttigieg be elected, you will not find so many good-looking young men all in one place as the diplomatic attachés of the Russian embassy foreign embassies in Washington.

    nk (1d9030)

  100. CBS had a “spin room” special after the debate that ran until 11 pm. I know they inetrviewed at last Elizabeth Warren and Tom Steyer. In the Time Steyer interview, Major Garrett said that candidates drop out, not because they run out of hope, but because thy run out of money.

    Note: I think that’s only been true since 1972 and is the result if campaign finance reform that limited the maximum size of campaign contributions. It went into effect on April 7, 1971. Now only billionnaires can easily jump in or continue. Edmund Muskie, in 1972, after the Florida primary, was the first to drop out because he ran out money rater than running out of hope, because there was hope, especially for a k=later ballot nomination. Previously it was only when they ran out of hope.

    Two candidates went on to win the nomination after it looked bad for them but they had enough money – John Kerry in 2003 and John McCain in 2007. This was at a time (the year before any votes have been cast) when expenses are low. McCain cut way down on spending.

    Majot Garrett said Tom Steyer had money – would he drop out? I think Tom Steyer said he hoped to do better than get 15% in South Carolina. The thing about Steyer is, while he may not drop out because he runs out money he s perfectly capable of dropping out if he runs out of hope.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  101. “ Add in a possible Bernie nomination in 2020 and he has to be thinking that he is king of the world.”

    One of the great ironies right now is the sudden ‘Russia! Russia!’ freak out by the msm, outraged in their fevered minds that Bernie is being pushed by sinister Putin forces to become the nominee so he’ll be the weakest Trump opponent, the same exact strategy used by the Lefty Media to push Trump in so he’d be trounced by Hillary.
    _

    Another juicy sight is the Lefty elites trying to protect their power being devoured by young zealots raised and nurtured on the ‘Hate America/Hate Capitalism/Hate Rule-Of-Law/Hate Whites/Hate Self-Sufficiency/Hate Civil Discourse/Hate Meritocracy’ mind poison pushed by the same Lefties.
    _

    2020 gonna be off the hook!
    _

    harkin (b64479)

  102. Case in point:

    Dave Jamieson
    @jamieson
    ·
    NEW: In a tense all-hands meeting, Cenk Uygur urged staff at The Young Turks not to form a union, arguing the progressive network couldn’t sustain one. “The reality is we’re in a precarious position,” Cenk told me. https://huffpost.com/entry/the-young-turks-progressive-founder-urged-his-staff-not-to-unionize_n_5e540686c5b6ad3de3823a32?yqt

    _

    harkin (b64479)

  103. Pete Buttigieg Steals Barack Obama’s Speeches!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4OwSo3BewU

    PLAGIARISM. Again! Who does he think he is, Joe Biden????????

    You’re done, Pete. Time for you to hit the Hershey Highway, pal.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  104. President Trump will hold a press conference scheduled for 6 pm today EST on the corona virus, along with people from the government charged with dealing with this. It is said he will announce the appointment of a corona virus czar.

    I am wondering if this could be a response to the claim made during the debate (and probably earlier elsewhere) that Trump, two years ago, had fired (or maybe it’s eliminated the position) of the person 9at the CDC?) who would be charge of preparing a response to a pandemic.

    Sammy Finkelman (9966eb)

  105. It is said he will announce the appointment of a corona virus czar.

    However will they get him in that tiny suit…???

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  106. Transcript (plus video) of the 10th Democratic Presidential debate, Tuesday, February 25, 2020 in Charleston, South Carolina, which was held in the Gaillard Center Performance Hall, which is just across the street from “Mother Emanuel” Church (not its formal name) where twelve people were shot and nine were killed by Dylann Roof on June 17, 2015:

    It had originally been planned for Monday but was postponed one day because of a wedding held Saturday night. Two days were needed to prepare the stage. U.S. House Democratic Whip, Representative Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., arranged for a no-vote day in Congress on Tuesday to allow members of Congress to prepare for that debate on site without being criticized.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-carolina-democratic-debate-full-transcript-text

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  107. Bernie is on his way to nomination, these other bozos only offer I am not trump!

    asset (b39bfe)

  108. Instead of a closing statement, there was a question. or two:

    What is the biggest misconception about you and what is your motto

    Althouse arranged the answers.

    Motto:

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2020/02/last-night-at-big-debate-democratic.html

    Misconception:

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2020/02/how-democratic-candidates-responded-to.html

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  109. 108. Well, they say they can beat Trump, and would be better for down ticket races.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  110. After the answers for the misconception and the motto were given the moderator, Norah O’Donnell was about say goodbye, but was corrected. There was one more commercial break she was told.

    When they came back…nothing more happened. Or at least nothing was heard from the candidates:

    O’DONNELL: Well, thank you. That concludes our debate.

    KING: No, no, we have time for one more break, Norah, one more break. Time flies when you’re having fun. You’re watching the Democratic debate right here on CBS.

    (APPLAUSE)

    (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

    (APPLAUSE)

    O’DONNELL: Thank you. That concludes our debate. We want to thank the candidates, the moderators, and to you watching at home tonight.

    KING: And a reminder that the primary here in South Carolina is this Saturday. Then next Tuesday, of course, Super Tuesday. CBS News will have special coverage.

    O’DONNELL: And our coverage of tonight’s debate will continue in a moment from the spin room here on CBS and on our streaming news service CBSN. There will be more about the debate as well on your late local news on this CBS station and first thing tomorrow on “CBS THIS MORNING.”

    KING: I’m getting on a plane right now going to New York. I’ll be there.

    And she was.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  111. Michael McKean
    @MJMcKean
    Our pregnant friend had a sonogram yesterday and there was a Bloomberg ad on the readout.

    _

    harkin (b64479)

  112. ….on…C B Ssss? Who did those gals think they were? Musburger, Summerall or Madden!!?? At best they are D-grade Phyllus George or Jayne Kennedy.

    urbanleftbehind (1ac282)

  113. Mottos:

    Steyer: Tell the truth and do what’s right, no matter what.

    Klobuchar: Politics is about improving people’s lives. (Paul Wellstone said)

    Biden: When you get knocked down, get up.

    AND:

    Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity, no matter what, no matter who they are.

    ALSO:

    Everyone should be represented.

    AND:

    No one’s better than me and I’m no better than anyone else

    And his mother’s saying was:

    “You know, you’re defined by your courage; you’re redeemed by your loyalty.”…

    Bernie Sanders: “Everything is impossible until it happens.” (Nelson Mandela said)

    Elizabeth Warren: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these, the least of thy brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (from the Christian Bible)

    [Shouldn’t that really be: What you do unto me, you have done it unto the least of my sistern?]

    Pete Buttigieg: if you would be a leader, you must first be a servant. (also from Matthrew)

    He added; “the teaching, not unique to the Christian tradition, but a big part of it” We are to treat others as we would be treated.

    [Covers all his bases]

    Bloomberg: Do something rather than just talk about it.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  114. Bloomberg says he never said to a woman wo worked for his company “Kill it”

    Later he said:

    : I never said it, period, end of story. Categorically never said it. When it was accused — when I was accused of doing it, we couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. But right now, I’m sorry if she heard what she thought she heard, or whatever happened. I didn’t take any pleasure in that.

    A person who said he was an ex-employee of Bloomberg and his wife was earlier called the Mark Simone show on WOR radio AM 710 this morning and said (the word in the company was – he couldn’t have meant he was there) that Bloomberg said “Abort it.” And I note that Bloomberg did not deny expressing the general idea in some form, just that he and his lawyers and assistants couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.

    He may be admitting something or half admitting something that didn’t happen at all.

    AND HAS THIS WOMAN BEN RELEASED OR NOT RELEASED FROM ANY NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT?

    Bloomberg would seem to say yes.

    What’s the story here?

    https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/business/28pregnant.html

    E.E.O.C. Files Lawsuit

    Against Bloomberg L.P.

    …The discrimination is said to have occurred after Mr. Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, and though he remains the majority shareholder of the firm, company officials stressed yesterday that he had not been involved in its day-to-day operations since early 2001.

    … In a similar case, Mr. Bloomberg was sued in 1997 by a sales executive who claimed that after she became pregnant, Mr. Bloomberg urged her to have an abortion, telling her, “Kill it!” and saying sarcastically, “Great! Number 16,” apparently referring to the number of pregnant women at the company. Mr. Bloomberg adamantly denied any wrongdoing and settled the case out of court for an undisclosed amount.

    Could Elizabeth Warren be trying to get Bloomberg to reveal the amount paid? or want to include cases that did not involve Michael Bloomberg ersonally?

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  115. KING: I’m getting on a plane right now going to New York. I’ll be there.

    …wasn’t actually the last of it.

    It ended with:

    O’DONNELL: From all of us here at CBS News, I’m Norah O’Donnell. Good night.

    KING: Good night.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  116. I shouldn’t have insulted Norah ODonnell with that comp. I thought she was hot way back when she was on MSNBC – I’m a sucker for “Cherry Valance” true redheads. Jayne Kennedy was peak Ebony/Jet magazine cover blackfamous during the late 70s early 80s.

    urbanleftbehind (1ac282)

  117. Biggest gaffe of the debate:

    Biden declared that 150 million people had been killed by firearms since 2007.

    …. But my friend to my right and others have in fact also gave into the gone manufacturers, absolute immunity. Imagine if I stood here and said we’d give immunity to drug companies. We would give immunity to tobacco companies. That has caused carnage on our streets, 150 million people have been killed since 2007 when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability. More than all the wars, including Vietnam, from that point on.

    almost nobody has commented on that.

    What is the number supposed to be?

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  118. https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-will-mark-the-end-of-affluence-politics

    On Tuesday, President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about Covid-19. As he put it, the virus is “under control” in the US and the “whole situation will start working out.” But according to Politico, Trump is privately voicing worries that the impact of the virus will undermine his chances of reelection. His panicked actions of late—including preventing an American from being treated in Alabama, at the request of a fearful Senator Richard Shelby—confirm that this virus is a political event of the first magnitude. While few in Washington have internalized it, the coronavirus is the biggest story in the world and is soon going to smash into our electoral politics in unpredictable ways

    This is, at one and the same time, not much more serious than the common cold – another virss to add to the 400 or so circulating around the world – and creating horrible disruptions because of attempts to contain it. Everybody is making the most possibly optimistic projections about containing it. It’s not like swine flku in 1976 or SARS or MERS – thsi will not easily go extinct.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  119. Welp, I went to the early voting center today and cast my Dem primary ballot for Klobuchar.

    It was her or Bloomberg – Biden appears increasingly out of his mind.

    Dave (b1bec7)

  120. This is, at one and the same time, not much more serious than the common cold – another virss to add to the 400 or so circulating around the world […].

    The common cold’s mortality rate is much lower. Also, coronavirus appears to target ethnicities very differently, which is odd if so—almost like it was bioengineered. If so, by which country, and group within said country, for what agenda, are interesting questions.

    Make America Ordered Again (23f793)

  121. Trump files a SLAPP for libel over a NYTimes opinion piece.

    The opinion piece (from March 2019) concerned the assistance Trump’s campaign received from Russia in 2016.

    So, legal eagles, since truth is a defense against libel, is the NYT entitled to conduct discovery on the transcripts of Trump’s calls and meetings with Putin?

    Dave (1bb933)

  122. …is the NYT entitled to conduct discovery on the transcripts of Trump’s calls and meetings with Putin?

    Normally? Very likely. With Duh Donald, I’d expect special pleading to excuse him from normal discovery rules. I’d also expect a court to tire of that very quickly.

    Off-hand, I’d say this is just a stupid high fast ball, thrown at the American press to brush them back off the plate.

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  123. @121. You chose wisely.

    The CNN Bloomberg town hall reaffirms it.

    He’s dishonest.

    And short. Like Hitler. And Stalin. And Napoleon.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  124. Dave (1bb933) — 2/26/2020 @ 3:18 pm

    So, legal eagles, since truth is a defense against libel, is the NYT entitled to conduct discovery on the transcripts of Trump’s calls and meetings with Putin?

    This is about 2016, and this would be conversations that he had as president with Putin?

    Not normally – it would not be likely to be relevant. What, would they expect?

    The NYT would want it dismissed as frivolous. It’s opinion. The lawsuit claims, in effect, the NYT knew that the Mueller report would debunk one or two things said in it, and published it ahead of that, and therefore it’s malice.

    What the op=ed article said was that “there was no need for detailed electoral collusion between the Trump campaign and Vladimir Putin’s oligarchy.” and the Trump campaign and Putin “had an overarching deal: the quid of help in the campaign against Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new pro-Russian foreign policy, starting with relief from the Obama administration’s burdensome economic sanctions.”

    That may be false, but it doesn’t purport to be more than opinion. OK, there was no “deal” There was no promise and it didn’t even happen.

    Sammy Finkelman (b71b87)

  125. I didn’t realize newspapers could deliberately lie about people as long as its labeled “opinion”. If I called someone at the NTY a child molester would that be Ok, as long as I said “Opinion”. Just asking.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  126. I can remember when Lillian Hellman sued Mary McCarthy in the 80s. Both were “public figures”. McCarthy said “every word out of her mouth is a lie, including “and” and “the”. Hellman sued for defamation and/or libel. I assumed the case would be immediately thrown out, but it wasn’t and was still going on when Hellman died.

    So, it seems what happens with libel all depends on the judge.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  127. Trump on the Coronavirus press conference, blamed the Democrats for the stock market collapse Monday and Tuesday by talking about the virus in their debate…Tuesday night. Not once, but twice.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  128. More Americans than Gallup has seen in a quarter century view foreign trade positively, with 79% calling it “an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports.” Fewer than one in five (18%) — down by about half from 34% in 2016, and the lowest Gallup has recorded — now perceive trade as mainly a “threat to the economy from foreign imports.” A high of 52% of Americans held this skeptical view of trade during the last recession…

    Trade enjoys strong bipartisan support in the U.S. today, with roughly eight in 10 Democrats (82%) and Republicans (78%), in addition to 76% of independents, seeing it as more of an opportunity for growth than a threat from imports.

    Today’s views by party reflect marked increases in both Democrats’ and Republicans’ positive outlook on trade since their low points in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
    ——————————————

    Excellent news!

    The T-rumpian demagoguery is not sticking.

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  129. Trump on the Coronavirus press conference, blamed the Democrats for the stock market collapse Monday and Tuesday by talking about the virus in their debate…Tuesday night. Not once, but twice.

    Is maybe some comrades will now understand that wealth is created by cheap labor working 12-hour days for a bowl of rice, and not stockbrokers trading gilt-edged pieces of paper? Nah! That’s Marxist talk!

    nk (1d9030)

  130. I didn’t realize newspapers could deliberately lie about people as long as its labeled “opinion”.

    That’s not what Sammy said. Again, why do you even bother?

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  131. 122. Make America Ordered Again (23f793) — 2/26/2020 @ 3:06 pm

    The common cold’s mortality rate is much lower.

    Most cases of corona virus are not diagnosed. You may be right this si worse than a cold.

    There were 600 or so cases aboard the diamond Princess, and there were two deaths reoorted, aJaanese man and aJapanese woman, both in their 80s.

    Someone who got it and taken to Nebraska was interviewed by Inside Edition. He said he felt fin the day he left the Diamond Princess (or else they wouldn’t have let him return to the United States -SF) but then felt bad.

    His temperature reached 103 degrees. Every day now he feels better, and it’s been five or six days but he still has a cough. The only treatment was Gatorade.

    They say there’s no vaccine. Correct. They say there are no anti virals. Only if you are stubborn or bureaucratic and insist it be proven to work for every virus separately. They should pick the one with the least side effects, and maybe one that is not currently used against AIDS. If this is a war, and it’s being treated that way, or like an emergency, you treat it like a war and act on the basis of incomplete information. We already know – it’s extremely stupid to say that we can;t use them efore testing its effectiveness – we already know that the antivirals are not specific to particular viruses and work against the flu. This has been found out accidentally.

    And another thing that could be done with severe cases, is dialysis. There are certain dialysis machines that can be set to any compound. You set it to the virus. This was proven to work with ebola in Germany. It’s nonsense that there’s no treatment. But if there is, it is not extremely dangerous. I said it wasn’t much worse than the common cold. It is less dangerous than flu definitely.

    Also, coronavirus appears to target ethnicities very differently, which is odd if so — almost like it was bioengineered.

    Mo it isn’t, and that’s pretty much not possible to be true also, because even if there are some people with genes that give them almost immunity or make them more vulnerable that doesn’t correlate exactly with nationality or even ethnicity. Think of lactose intolerance or problems processing alcohol.

    China has been nowhere near as isolated from the rest of the world as American Indians were in 1492, and if there were people more vulnerable, they would be non-Chinese, since this originated in China. It’s people outside China who would be more affected, not the other way around.

    You just can’t trust Chinese statistics. In fact, with this virus, you pretty much can’t trust any statistics. You may know deaths but nobody knows the denominator.

    If we know all cases from the Diamond Princess, and all deaths of those aboard, it has a mortality rate of approximately 1 in 300, almost exclusively of people with weak immune systems and maybe other health problems.

    In the United States it is not diagnosed unless they test for it, and the tests cost $2,000 and only the CDC or some labs perform them, and so they are only done when you already suspect a connection, which makes quarantine methods look somewhat effective and when it was declared a public health emergency informal use of any other test was outlawed (I’m not sure that’s right.)

    There are far, far, more cases than are diagnosed. That should become obvious soon.

    It’s new and there is no herd immunity, so it spreads. The R0 number is above 1.0. (do I use that term correctly?)

    The virus came from bats and passed through pangolins, a rare (and illegal to harvest) animal used in China as a medicine and maybe some more people ate it as regular food when the government of China slaughtered half the pigs in China. We know where it came from, despite attempts to obfusticate it.

    Sammy Finkelman (b71b87)

  132. NK, the point was that the Marxists would have to have a time machine, because Monday comes before Tuesday, and Tuesday comes before Tuesday night.

    It’s another indication that as silly the democrats are, Trump…trumps them with stupid.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  133. Well, the stock market is very important to Trump. However, and even Trump supporters have said this, it was due for an adjustment. It has been way too bullish, running on enthusiasm and optimism. But God forbid that Trump should blame market forces and not a #NeverTrump/Democrat/Leftist conspiracy to personally hurt him.

    nk (1d9030)

  134. Duh Donald has not the FIRST clue about market forces. He makes the big orange ball (see what I did there?) to rise in the morning and set at night (pbuh). Any ripples in the universe are the result of haters!

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  135. Brian Schwartz
    @schwartzbCNBC

    NEW: Democratic megadonor Bernard Schwartz has been privately trying to urge Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to pick a candidate in a bid to stop Bernie Sanders
    __ _

    Adso of Melk
    @PalimpsestMan
    .
    Remember this every time Democrats or Big Media say every vote counts.

    _

    harkin (b64479)

  136. “Adso of Melk
    @PalimpsestMan
    .
    Remember this every time Democrats or Big Media say every vote counts.”

    I don’t know who this idiot is, but I do appreciate you sharing every brain dead TCOT’s hot takes. However, surely you, harkin, must realize that
    1) Bernard Schwartz doesn’t speak for all media and democrats, and
    2) He’s urging them to endorse a non-Bernie candidate, not back-room select him in place of the primaries.

    Davethulhu (fe4242)

  137. Now, according to sources, the West Wing is bracing for Trump to pardon Stone or commute his three-year prison sentence. “Commuting the sentence, if there is any action taken, is the only remotely safe thing. A full pardon is corruption,” a former West Wing official told me.

    Republicans close to the White House say officials are lobbying Trump not to go ahead with a Stone rescue. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jared Kushner have argued to Trump that a pardon or commutation would create an unnecessary scandal during an election year. “They all think it’ll be a problem and that there will be hearings,” a Republican briefed on the internal conversations told me. Another source briefed on the matter said that Trump is being told, “We don’t need the hassle. Do it after the election.” Sources also said West Wing officials have told Trump that stepping in could lead Attorney General William Barr to resign—an outcome one Republican close to the White House described as “catastrophic.”

    Trump’s desire to intervene on Stone’s behalf is being stoked by Stone’s longtime friend, Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
    —————————————————————-

    My regard for Carlson just fell another several points!

    But interesting blurb on several levels.

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  138. In 2018, Trump fired Tom Bossert, whose job as homeland security adviser on the NSC included coordinating the response to global pandemics. Bossert was not replaced. Last year, Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, the NSC’s senior director for global health security and biodefense, left the council and was not replaced. Dr. Luciana Borio, the NSC’s director for medical and biodefense preparedness, left in May 2018 and was also not replaced.

    In an October op-ed in The Washington Post, national security adviser Robert O’Brien described the Obama National Security Council as having “ballooned to well over 200 staffers,” and he said he intended “to reduce the NSC staff.”

    Said a former senior U.S. official, “For the first time since 9/11, you don’t have someone directly and immediately reporting to the president responsible 24/7 for the major transnational threats we face — terror, cyber, pandemics.”
    ——————————————————————

    Super managing for Mssr. Arte d’Deal…

    Ragspierre (d9bec9)

  139. 133. Possible correction:

    SF: I said it wasn’t much worse than the common cold. It is less dangerous than flu definitely.

    Senator John Kennedy (R-La) has been quizzing various Administration officials abot coronavirus in hearinss, attempting to show that they know nothing or don’t know enough.. He asked one (maybe Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, unless it was Azar, the Secretary of HHS what was the death rate (per infection) of coronavirus. He said about 1% or 2%. He then asked what was the rate for the flue. He guessed it was about the same. Senator John Kennedy told him it was 0.1%

    Now the 1% rate for coronavirus is too high, but I don;t know what the rate for flue is and how the rate is calculated.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  140. 135. nk (1d9030) — 2/26/2020 @ 6:10 pm

    But God forbid that Trump should blame market forces and not a #NeverTrump/Democrat/Leftist conspiracy to personally hurt him.

    When the stock market is up, it’s right, according to Trump. But when the stock market goes down, it’s wrong.

    Now he can say that because drops are always much more severe than rises, so he can think an undeserved panic caused a selloff, but rises represent considered opinion over time. But it iss self-serving nevertheless to take credit for economic growth.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  141. There are also the old codgers — we have had and still have some commenting here — who support Trump mainly because of the state of their retirement portfolios. There are enough of them to make him worry about losing their support.

    nk (1d9030)

  142. I noticed that Joe Biden, in the debate, did not say that Bernie Sanders had considered running against Obama in 2012, but only the more accurate satemnet that he thought somebody should primary Barack Obama.

    Nobody mentioned the supposed arrest in South Africa, and on Wednesday nighr, Colbert seemed to be writing off Biden and satirized the claim. Then he went on and said that the Biden campaign had admitted the Soweto arrest hadn’t happened. And they explain it by saying he got separated from his travelling companions (like Andrew Young) at the airport.

    (Colbert had a recorded half serious skit with Elzabeth Warren on the same show)

    Sammy Finkelman (ad84eb)


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